Obama V. Trump: The Politics of Rollback, Harrington Clodagh, Waddan Alex

Examines how Trump’s election as President signals a rollback of the Obama years

• Establishes what can be regarded as Obamas legacy, in both domestic and foreign policy
• Investigates how far the Trump administration (up to the 2018 mid-terms) undoes Obamas legacy legacy
• Focuses on meaningful shifts in presidential priorities, policy changes, and the imprint of presidential leadership
• Case studies on specific policy areas where presidential ‘undoing’ has had a significant impact or has been thwarted, such as health care reform and immigration policy

In 2008, in what seemed a seminal moment for the country’s politics, the United States elected an African American as President. Yet, eight years later, in the form of Donald Trump, the nation put in office a man who was the very antithesis of his predecessor. This book determines what can legitimately be regarded as the legacy of the Obama presidency and investigates how far the Trump administration has reversed it. The analysis is embedded in a historical context, based on examination and scrutiny of how, and how successfully, presidents in the modern era have overturned the work of their predecessor when they have attempted to do so. The authors focus on meaningful priority shifts, policy changes and the imprint of presidential leadership, providing a framework for assessing Obama’s legacy, which in turn affords context to a discussion of the Trump administration’s capacity to fulfil its promise to reverse the direction taken by the Obama White House. Looking beyond the noise and hyperbole, the book examines how robust the Obama legacy has proved to be in the face of Trump’s challenge.